In August, CBP seized 1,997 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $993 million, the agency said Sept. 16 in a monthly update.
Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Trade Compliance partners in good standing may have access to a new benefit, CBP says: the use of a foreign-trade zone to store goods subject to possible forced labor enforcement action.
The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has 72 additions to its list of goods that could potentially be produced by forced labor or child labor, including a record 37 new goods that have not previously been identified as involving labor exploitation, ILAB said Sept. 5 in its latest edition of the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.
The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, joined by a Republican and two other Democrats, is asking CBP to provide decision memoranda, emails, situation summaries, discussion and evaluation documents and briefing documents on how the agency is identifying seafood imports that were harvested by illegal fishing or processed with forced labor, including how ACE is collecting data.
The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) is seeking comments on its Comply Chain: Business Tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply Chains, as well as three reports on child labor and forced labor in certain foreign countries, through Dec. 16, it said in a Federal Register notice.
The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Affairs said in a notice it's removing two goods from its List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor: shrimp from Thailand and garments from Vietnam. Federal contractors who supply products on Labor's list must certify that the product wasn't made using child labor.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Sept. 18 remotely and in person in Washington, D.C., starting at 1 p.m. EDT, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due by Sept. 13.
CBP's Air Cargo Advanced Screening security filings will have additional codes to be completed by filers responsible for air cargo shipments originating from outside the U.S., starting in early September.
Sayari analysts, who say their company crunches 600 million shipment records, say that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has had more impact than British, German, Swiss, Canadian and French laws aimed at removing human rights abuses from supply chains.
Shein audits in 2023 uncovered two contract manufacturers that were hiring children 15 years old or younger in China, the company reported, and the companies let those workers go, paid their outstanding wages, and facilitated a return to their parents or legal guardians. "SHEIN also ensured the contract manufacturers strengthened their processes for screening new hires, such as checking and maintaining records of all employees’ IDs. Following appropriate remediation, the contract manufacturers were permitted to resume business," the report said.